Groups for individuals with traumatic histories: practice considerations for social workers.

Based on the notion of mutual aid, a conceptual framework for understanding how membership in a group benefits survivors of trauma is presented. Incorporating current research and theory, this article discusses distinguishing features of these groups, as well as professional challenges social workers are likely to face in facilitating them.

KEY WORDS: group work; mutual aid; trauma

An impressive, ever-expanding body of empirical and theoretical literature describes the affective, social, behavioral, and physiological consequences of psychological trauma. Treatment ap